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MST3K 901 - The Projected Man
The Movie Synopsis Dr. Paul Steiner (Bryant Haliday) and Dr. Christopher Mitchell (Ronald Allen) work on a projection device that enables them to transmit any object within a few miles of the machine. While they find the device works with inanimate objects, the living creatures they use it on always die. When Dr. Patricia Hill (Mary Peach) arrives, she helps them fix the error, making Steiner think the problem has been solved. Meanwhile, Dr. Blanchard (Norman Wooland), Steiner's boss and head of the institute he works for, is being blackmailed by Mr. Latham (Derrick De Marney), who wants credit for Steiner's discovery. He forces Blanchard to demand Steiner to give a premature presentation to Professor Lembach (Gerard Heinz). Steiner, Mitchell, and Hill feel they are ready to present, but at the event, Blanchard secretly sabotages the machine with acid, causing an explosion. The funding for Steiner's project is rescinded. Mitchell later discovers that the device has been tampered with. Steiner goes to Blanchard's house, where Lembach and Latham are having dinner. He presents the men with the evidence that his machine was deliberately tampered with, and Lembach allows him to have another chance. Steiner decides to try to project himself to Lembach's house, and, with help from his secretary, Sheila (Tracey Crisp), he begins the procedure. Right then, Mitchell and Hill return to the laboratory. The two try to convince Sheila to stop the projection, but as she is inexperienced with the device, she instead ends up projecting Steiner to somewhere else. He ends up at a construction site, where a band of thieves are attempting to break into a furrier's. It is learned that an error in the projection has given Steiner the ability to kill people by touching them, and has mutilated one half of his body. Steiner kills the criminals, and then enters a store, where he steals a pair of rubber gloves and a coat. He then breaks into the institute, where he finds Latham and kills him. He also destroys the building's power supply, alerting Hill and Mitchell that something is wrong. By this time, Inspector Davis (Derek Farr) has discovered the bodies of the criminals and is determined to stop Steiner. Sheila is kidnapped by Steiner, who interrogates her in her apartment. She reveals that it was Blanchard and Latham who plotted against him, angering Steiner. Before leaving, Steiner sets Sheila's apartment on fire with her inside and goes to ambush Blanchard in his home. Sheila survives the fire. When Blanchard returns home, he is killed by Steiner. Meanwhile, Davis has examined Latham's body and realizes that the electric marks left on Latham were the same as the criminals at the construction site. Steiner shows up at Hill's house, where he finds her and Mitchell. Steiner demands that they tell him where he can find more electricity, which he now needs to survive. Hill and Mitchell try to convince him to return to the laboratory so they can try reversing the projection, but Steiner rebuffs them and leaves toward a power plant. Davis, Hill, and Mitchell find him at the power plant. Davis tries to kill Steiner but bullets do not harm him. Dr. Hill again tries to persuade Steiner to return to the laboratory. Steiner is eventually convinced, and goes with them. When they arrive at the lab, Steiner tricks everyone and begins destroying things. With the laboratory on fire and the projection device wildly out of control, Steiner is hit by the projection device's laser, causing him to disappear as the fire rages on.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062159/plotsummary Information *London's Battersea Power Station, most famous for appearing on the cover of the Pink Floyd album Animals, can be seen in this film. *As noted on the official website at the time, this was the first experiment in which the monster was named "Paul". Subsequent instances of this would include Experiments #904 (Werewolf) and #1007 (Track of the Moon Beast). The Episode Host Segments Opening: The Satellite of Love has exited the wormhole, and is back orbiting the Earth, present day. Mike shows off his latest Shatner impersonation. Tom can't handle (what he thinks is) another parallel Earth. Segment 1: Pearl, Bobo, and Brain Guy arrive at Castle Forrester. Pearl shows off her new organ-playing skills (cheered on by the SOL crew) and declares the place, "so freakin' cool"! Segment 2: Crow and Tom have invented a "projecting machine" which they use to "project" Mike’s most precious possessions, including his class ring, his St. Blaise medal from his grandma to protect his throat and love letters from Denise that she wrote right before she died. Mike suspects that the device actually destroying his possessions and tricks the Bots into "projecting" Tom's autographed photo of Shirley Jones. Segment 3: Mike is on the phone with Lembach. He tries to convince Lembach to stay a little longer. He bribes him with pie and a trip to Shenanigans. Lembach is staying! Meanwhile, in Castle Forrester, Pearl learns more about her family history. Apparently odd experiments run in the family. Segment 4: 'Crow’s experiments in "projectedness-itivity" have given him the Touch of Death, and he accidentally kills Mike, forcing the bots to drag Mike into the theater. Luckily, Crow resuscitates him by shaking his hand. '''Segment 5: '''It's Grant Day! Tom and Crow compete for funding from Mike’s new foundation, Michael J Nelson, the foundation. Tom asks for $50, but can't remember if he got distilled water or not and the project is denied. Crow wins the $50 for his project: "to buy two new leaf blowers and a hat". In Castle Forrester, Pearl has (after a gentle reminder by Brain Guy and Bobo) rediscovered her mission: taking over the world. '''Stinger: '''Lembach is staying! And there is much rejoicing! Trivia * On the debut airing of this episode, the audio of Mike & the Bots in the theater was overly echo-y. This was a technical error due to changes in the show's audio mixing capabilities. It would be fixed when the episode reaired several months later. * Curiously, the Universal Studios logo in this print of the film uses the music theme from the American International Pictures logo (composed by Les Baxter) from 1960 to 1963, despite the latter studio not having anything to do with this film's production. It is absent during the logo on the Blu-ray release of the film, which simply uses the opening title music instead. Callbacks * ''"Mitchell!" * "And bring me some ham." (Devil Doll) * "You ugly little dummy." (Devil Doll) Obscure References *''"Faberge presents!"'' *''"The incredible, edible Earth!"'' :A pair of egg references- Faberge eggs are jewel-encrusted and highly valuable. The second is play on the advertising slogan "The incredible, edible egg". *''"Is this 'The Rite of Spring?' Should we be rioting right now?"'' :The opening percussion in the movie's soundtrack is similar to that of Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring; which caused a riot when it premiered in May 1913. Reasons for inciting the riot remain unclear, but it was possibly due to the chaotic dissonance the score is known for irritating much of the audience at the time. *''"Are we not blokes?"'' :A reference to Devo's debut album Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!, which was itself a reference to ''The Island of Dr. Moreau''. "Are we not men?" was a rhetorical question used to reinforce the laws of the Beast Folk. *''"Is she breastfeeding him?! Who is she, Tori Amos?!"'' : is a singer/songwriter who's popularity peaked in the 1990s. The liner notes of her album include a photo of Amos breastfeeding a piglet. *''"Smell the glove!"'' :The fictional heavy metal band is shown in the movie This Is Spinal Tap releasing an album titles Smell the Glove. * "He's the English Harvey Dent!" :Harvey Dent is the real name of the Batman villain Two-Face, who the Projected Man resembles. *''"High Plains Matron!"'' :High Plains Drifter is a 1973 Western film starring Clint Eastwood. *''"Oh Warriors, come out and PLAY-AY!!!"'' :This is a line from the 1979 movie The Warriors. * "Like Cris Collinsworth?" : is a sports broadcaster and former NFL player who was the wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals during the 80's * "Big man, pig man! Ha ha, charade you are!" :This music lyric comes from the song " " from the 1977 album . The song is refereed to several times during the scenes at Battersea Power Station, probably inspired by the fact that the cover of Animals features a photo of the power station (with a pig floating between its spires). Memorable Quotes : complains to Brain Guy about the mysterious whispering in the castle. : '''Observer: Well, it's not me, Pearl! I'm sensing the presence of several disembodied souls… melodramatically wandering these dark halls in search of surcease, an end to their endless night… a howl of quiet desperation… towards an indifferent universe. Nepenthe! Nepenthe! : Pearl: You are so gay. : Observer: I could be wrong. : turns on the projecting machine, making numerous high-pitched sci-fi noises : Man: What's he doing? : Crow: Oh, he's just doing his patented incredibly-annoying sound effect routine! : Hill narrowly avoids colliding with a car outside a laboratory : Dr. Hill: You better watch where you're going! : Dr. Mitchell: Pretty you may be! : security guard approaches the woman's car and murmurs something : Crow Guard: Uh, he said "Pretty you may be!", ma'am. I'm not sure what he meant! : . . . : Hill drives away : Servo: Uh... driving she may be! : Hill is parking her car : Crow: Ah parking! What a great way to establish character and create tension! : car's engine makes odd noises : Mike: An exhaust system she may need! : scientists Steiner and Mitchell are about to project Dr. Hill's dematerialized watch. All three are dressed in white lab coats and wearing space-age protective goggles. : Prof. Steiner: Laser Preheat! : Dr. Mitchell: Laser Pre-Heat… in! : Crow Prof. Steiner: Grease and flour cake pans! : Prof. Steiner: Laser Emission Relay. : Dr. Mitchell: Laser Emission Relay… on! : Servo Prof. Steiner: Bottom falling out of… plot! Movie… sucks! : Mike: Are we not blokes? : Prof. Steiner: Relay One. : Dr. Mitchell: Relay One… in! : Servo Prof. Steiner: Really dumb scene… end! : identical re-creation of projection scene. : Crow: Yes! It's the same thing you've seen before! Only it's... happening again! : thief goes looking for his accomplice Gloria. : Thief: Gloria? : Mike Thief: G-L-O-R-I-A? : Thief: Gloria! : Servo Thief: In excelsis Deo! : Thief: Gloria! : Crow Thief: I hear they got your number. : are investigating Latham's murder. : Inspector Davis: Can I get on? : Servo: Dr. Mitchel Well, he's dead, but knock yourself out. : movie ends with Paul destroying the laboratory, and eventually himself with the projection laser : Crow: Well, this is kind of an ambiguous ending. Is this film horrible or did it merely suck? : Servo: Yeah! Now that I have seen it, do I want to kick a dog or a cat? : Crow: Do I want the director just killed or should he be tortured first? : Mike: Crow! : . . . : last shot of the movie shows the screen covered in flames. : Crow: Ah, so the movie and all the actors in it roast in Hell!! : and the 'bots cheer loudly Video releases *Commercially released on DVD by Shout! Factory in July 2014 as part of Volume XXX, a 4-disc set along with The Black Scorpion, Outlaw, and It Lives by Night. **The DVD includes the Ballyhoo Motion Pictures feature Shock to the System: Creating The Projected Man and a theatrical trailer. Category:MST3K Episodes Category:Season 9 Category:Foreign Film Category:Unrated movies Category:Episodes directed by Michael J. Nelson Category:Season Premieres